In Memoriam

Beatrice Helene Werhahn

12/31/1949 – 3/18/2018

Beatrice Helene Werhahn, 68, passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 18, 2018. As a woman who always lived her life with dignity and grace, Beatrice's love, leadership, and vision will forever remain in the hearts of her dear family and loving friends.

She was born as Beatrice Helene Locher in Altstätten, Switzerland on December 31, 1949. The youngest of three girls, Beatrice had a special relationship with her beloved parents, Adolf and Martha. She grew up enjoying horses and the freedom of exploring the Swiss Rheintal region on horseback. She also enjoyed show jumping, which fittingly combined her athleticism with pageant and elegance. After attending a Catholic boarding school, Beatrice earned a master's degree in business from Switzerland's top business school, the University of St. Gallen. She was one of just eight girls out of the 1,000 students at the University. While there she fell in love with Peter Werhahn. They married in 1976 and several years later had two daughters, Patricia and Geraldine, whom they completely adored.

As a young couple, Beatrice and Peter lived in Basel. Together, they happily traveled the world collecting art, a passion that would continue for the rest of her life. In 1983, she purchased a 300-year-old farmhouse in Salenstein. Beatrice put her artistic and managerial talents into fully renovating the building and surrounding gardens, converting the farmhouse into a lovely home in which to raise her girls.

During this time early in her professional career, Beatrice worked alongside her father in his steel company. She adored her father and credited him for being her greatest mentor. In turn, her father cherished her and prepared her to someday lead the very large enterprise. Unfortunately, the year 1988 brought two personal tragedies: the death of her father Adolf followed by the untimely death of her husband Peter. For a few weeks of sanctuary, Beatrice took her very young daughters to Florida. During this time, Beatrice fell in love with Florida and, in her inimitable decisive style, promptly purchased a home in Vero Beach at John's Island. Thereafter, she would always have two homes: one in Switzerland and one in Florida.

After her husband Peter's passing, Beatrice took control of his ski boot company—in addition to being the active CEO of the steel business. She became a very well-known female entrepreneur in Switzerland: in 1991 she was elected as the Swiss Business Woman of the Year. Not long thereafter, Beatrice cleverly switched to another business sphere, commercial real estate. Like so many times in her life, she turned an idea inspired by her father's wisdom into reality, creating her own real estate company, RedSteel, named in honor of her father's steel company and the red color of the Swiss flag.

In the early 1990's, she remarried; a choice she would later regret terribly. She then spent more time in Florida and in 2003 she got her loyal little companion, Princess, a sweetheart four-pound Maltese who would be with her for the rest of her life.

Beatrice diligently and lovingly raised Patricia and Geraldine to be independent, free-thinking, empowered, and strong women. She taught them the balance between strategic thinking and intuitive decision making, while always keeping a long-term perspective in mind. And she always served as their best role model. She was most proud of her girls' accomplishments: Patricia earning an MBA in real estate from the Wharton School and becoming CEO of RedSteel, and Geraldine following her passion by getting her doctorate in Zoology from the University of Oxford.

Patricia had met and fallen in love with Richard while at Wharton; they married and moved to Gulf Stream, Florida where their two children, Dieter and Adeline, were born. Beatrice had the joy to witness the birth of both her grandchildren, whom she loved dearly. In 2014, Beatrice moved to Gulf Stream to be closer to her family. She truly cherished these last few years being so close to the people most important to her.

An avid golfer, during the last few years of her life, she was proud of winning both the Club Championship and Putting Championship at the Little Club in Gulf Stream along with the Mixed Championship at the Country Club of Florida in the Village of Golf.

In early 2016, Beatrice met and fell in love with Roger, who in turn immediately and truly loved Beatrice as the beautiful person she was. They were simply a great match for each other. Beatrice and Roger immensely enjoyed her last two years, inseparably spending the time traveling, golfing, dining, and treasuring every minute of life.

During her final weeks, Beatrice talked about the full and complete life she has lived. While there have been many ups and downs in her life, she lived every day with elegance, strength, intelligence and dignity.

She is survived by her daughters, Patricia Werhahn and Geraldine Werhahn; son-in-law, Richard Viens; grandchildren, Dietrich Werhahn Viens and Adeline Werhahn Viens; lifelong friend, Ursula Gottschalk; and her partner, Roger Brinner and family.

She will forever remain an inspiration and guiding light for those that loved her.